Chocolate
by Inferior Vena Cava
Summary: Adventure 2002: Matt reluctantly reveals why he really dislikes the 14 of February.


Disclaimer: Copyrighted Material used under Fair Use. This work is not affiliated with or endorsed by the _Digimon _franchise.

This one-shot takes place after the Diaboromon incident but before the rise of the Emperor in the Digital World. It has been accepted into the_ Adventure 2002_ project as "episode 0.14"

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><p><strong>Chocolate<strong>

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><p>"I hate it."<p>

"You do not!" laughed Tai. "Don't lie. I know how popular you are with girls. You must get absolutely flooded with chocolate on Valentine's Day."

Matt growled and turned his attention back to tuning the string of his bass. "Yeah, and then I'm obligated to send stuff back to them on White Day! I'm not exactly rich you know. I don't have the money to be buying white chocolate to give to a bunch of girls I barely know."

Tai propped his head on his hands as he lay on his stomach on his friend's bed. "Well, it's not like you have to buy stuff for all of them."

"Yeah, but if I don't then I look like I'm totally full of myself."

"Let them think what they think."

"You don't understand Tai, it's the principle. I don't want to not give gifts in return because that's who I am. I fulfill obligations and stuff."

Tai gazed lazily at the wall and kicked his feet back and forth in the air. "I wonder who came up with the whole tradition of giving stuff back on White Day. Maybe Izzy knows." He paused and glanced at the door. "Where is Izzy anyways? He's been gone for a while."

"He said he was going to use the toilet, so he's probably using the toilet," said Matt dismissively. He tightened the string and giving it a testing pluck.

Tai pouted and stared at the door. "Izzy has sensitive bowels, don't you think? He was like this last spring during the whole Diaboromon thing."

"Hm," grunted Matt as he gave his bass an experimental strum. He frowned. Something still sounded off.

"Hey, have you been keeping in contact with the Digital World since then?" asked Tai.

"I send emails over daily, though I haven't been getting any replies lately. I hope everything's okay over there."

Tai sighed and felt the rectangular object in his pocket through the fabric of his pants. He stilled carried it with him every day, silently wishing and hoping. "Yeah, Agumon stopped replying to my emails too for some reason. Izzy said it might be the whole barrier between worlds acting up or something. Says it's probably temporary."

"Hm," grunted Matt again, turning attention back to turning the knob of the bass string to tighten it just slightly more.

"Say, do you think we'll get any chocolates from Sora this year?"

The bass string snapped.

"Gah!" Matt dropped the instrument from his hands as he felt the recoiling string lash him across the arm.

Tai got up from the bed. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," said Matt, gripping his arm and studying it. A red line was slowly appearing across his forearm. "Stupid cheap strings... See, if it weren't for having to buy stuff for White Day, I could afford getting better strings for this thing. It'd be a way better use of my money."

Tai chuckled to himself and returned to the bed, taking a seat this time. "You know, your insistence on how much you hate Valentine's Day makes you suspicious that you actually love it and are just embarrassed about it."

"That's ridiculous!" Matt set his bass down onto its rack.

"Oh, you can tell me anything Matt. It's okay if you're still afraid of girls."

"I am not afraid of girls!"

Tai laughed. "Remember back when we were trying to hitchhike back home? And that woman stopped for us and you said no?"

"Yes I do remember! There were only two seats, and not nearly enough room for all of us!"

The door opened, and Izzy stepped in. "Are you two fighting again? Can't you guys go two minutes before arguing about something?"

"You were gone way longer than two minutes," replied Tai coolly.

Izzy rolled his eyes and closed the door behind him. He returned to his earlier seat near the foot of Matt's bed, and resumed doing whatever it was he had been doing on his laptop.

Matt coughed and wiped his forehead. "Okay, Tai, I will admit that the obligation to give stuff back on White Day isn't my only reason for not liking Valentine's Day."

"I knew it!"

"The other reason is..." Matt hesitated a moment. "I... I hate sweets."

Tai gaped. Izzy looked up from his laptop. Both boys stared at Matt. A heavy silence hung over the room.

"You... what?" asked Izzy surprised.

"What kind of kid are you?" scolded Tai. "Not liking sweets?"

"I don't like sweets, okay?" said Matt, turning slightly red. "It's not a big deal! I just don't like eating chocolate."

Tai got off the bed again and stepped to Matt. He briefly glanced over to Izzy. "Izzy, did you hear that? He doesn't like chocolate." Tai turned back to Matt and crossed his arms. "Izzy, the two of us will just have to correct that."

All the red in Matt's face vanished, and he became white instead. He recognized that tone in Tai's voice. "Oh no, Tai. You're not..."

The two older boys stared each other down for a moment. Izzy sighed and shook his head, already guessing what was coming, and turned his attention back to his laptop screen. Matt bolted for the door.

Tai leaped forward and tackled the other boy, and the two crashed onto the ground. They began wrestling over the floor, turning and writhing all around the room, yelling at one another.

"Let me go Tai!"

"I will teach you to love chocolate!"

"I don't know what you're planning but whatever it is it's not going to happen!"

"By the time I'm done with you you'll be begging 'Give me the chocolate Tai!' every time you see me!"

"Let go! Izzy! Help me!"

"Izzy! Help me hold him down!"

Izzy sighed and continued typing on his laptop as the other two boys rolled past him once again. "Happy Valentine's Day, I guess."


End file.
